1. The Amber Room
Described
as the eighth wonder of the world by those who saw it, the Amber Room
is certainly the most unique missing treasure in history.
It
was an 11-foot-square hall consisting of large wall panels inlaid with
several tons of superbly designed amber, large gold-leaf-edged mirrors,
and four magnificent Florentine mosaics. Arranged in three tiers, the
amber was inlaid with precious jewels, and glass display cases housed
one of the most valuable collections of Prussian and Russian artwork
ever assembled.
Created
for Prussia's King Friedrich I and given to Russian czar Peter the
Great in 1716, it was located at Catherine Palace, near St. Petersburg.
Today, the Amber Room would be valued at more than $142 million.
When
Adolf Hitler turned his Nazi war machine toward Russia, the keepers of
the Amber Room got nervous. They tried to move it, but the amber began
to crumble, so they tried to cover it with wallpaper. They were
unsuccessful and when the Nazis stormed Leningrad (formerly called St.
Petersburg) in October 1941, they claimed it and put it on display in
Königsberg Castle during the remaining war years.
However,
when Königsberg surrendered in April 1945, the fabled treasure was
nowhere to be found. The Amber Room was never seen again. Did the
Soviets unwittingly destroy their own treasure with bombs? Was it hidden
in a now lost subterranean bunker outside the city? Or was it destroyed
when Königsberg Castle burned shortly after the city surrendered?
We'll
probably never know for sure. But fortunately for lovers of opulence,
the Amber Room has been painstakingly recreated and is on display in
Catherine Palace.
2. Blackbeard's Treasure
The famous pirate Blackbeard
only spent about two years (1716-1718) plundering the high seas. Within
that time, however, he amassed some serious wealth. While the Spanish
were busy obtaining all the gold and silver they could extract from
Mexico and South America, Blackbeard and his mates waited patiently,
then pounced on the treasure-laden ships as they sailed back to Spain.
Blackbeard
developed a fearsome reputation as a cruel and vicious opportunist. His
reign of terror centered around the West Indies and the Atlantic coast
of North America, with headquarters in both the Bahamas and North
Carolina. His end came in November 1718, when British Lieutenant Robert
Maynard decapitated the pirate and hung his head from the bowsprit of
his ship as a grisly trophy.
But
what happened to the vast treasure that Blackbeard had amassed? He
acknowledged burying it but never disclosed the location. But that
hasn't stopped countless treasure hunters from trying to get their hands
on it.
Blackbeard's sunken ship, Queen Anne's Revenge,
is believed to have been discovered near Beaufort, North Carolina, in
1996, but the loot wasn't onboard. Possible locations for the hidden
stash include the Caribbean Islands, Virginia's Chesapeake Bay, and the
caves of the Cayman Islands.
3. Treasures of Lima
In
1820, Lima, Peru, was on the edge of revolt. As a preventative measure,
the viceroy of Lima decided to transport the city's fabulous wealth to
Mexico for safekeeping. The treasures included jeweled stones,
candlesticks, and two life-size solid gold statues of Mary holding the
baby Jesus. In all, the treasure filled 11 ships and was valued at
around $60 million.
Captain William Thompson, commander of the Mary Dear,
was put in charge of transporting the riches to Mexico. But the viceroy
should have done some research on the man to whom he handed such
fabulous wealth because Thompson was a pirate, and a ruthless one at
that. Once the ships were well out to sea, he cut the throats of the
Peruvian guards and threw their bodies overboard.
Thompson
headed for the Cocos Islands, in the Indian Ocean, where he and his men
allegedly buried the treasure. They then decided to split up and lay
low until the situation had calmed down, at which time they would
reconvene to divvy up the spoils.
But the Mary Dear was
captured, and the crew went on trial for piracy. All but Thompson and
his first mate were hanged. To save their lives, the two agreed to lead
the Spanish to the stolen treasure. They took them as far as the Cocos
Islands and then managed to escape into the jungle. Thompson, the first
mate, and the treasure were never seen again.
Since
then more than 300 expeditions have tried -- unsuccessfully -- to
locate the treasures of Lima. The most recent theory is that the
treasure wasn't buried on the Cocos Islands at all but on an unknown
island off the coast of Central America.
On the next page, you will find the Pharaohs' missing treasure.
4. Pharaohs' Missing Treasure
When
Howard Carter found the tomb of Tutankhamen in Egypt's Valley of the
Kings in 1922, he was mesmerized by the splendor of the artifacts that
the young king took to the afterlife. Attached to the burial chamber was
a treasury with so many jewels and other artifacts that it took Carter
ten years to fully catalog them.
However,
when the burial chambers of more prominent pharaohs were unearthed in
the late 19th century, their treasure chambers were virtually empty. It
is common knowledge that tomb robbers had been busy in the tombs over
the centuries, but the scale of the theft required to clean out the
tombs of the kings is beyond petty criminals. So, where is the vast
wealth of the pharaohs buried in the Valley of the Kings?
Some
scholars believe that the treasures were appropriated by the priests
who conducted reburials in the Valley of the Kings during the period of
the early 20th and late 21st Egyptian dynasties (425-343 B.C.).
Pharaohs were not averse to reusing the funeral splendors of their
ancestors, so this may have been carried out with official sanction.
One
particular ruler, Herihor, has been the focus of special attention.
Herihor was a high court official during the reign of Ramses XI. Upon
Ramses' death, Herihor usurped the throne, dividing up the kingdom with a
co-conspirator, his son-in-law Piankh. Herihor placed himself in charge
of reburial proceedings at the Valley of the Kings, affording himself
ample opportunity to pilfer on a grand scale.
His
tomb has never been found. When and if it is, many scholars believe
that the missing treasures of many of Egypt's pharaohs will finally see
the light of day.
On the next pages, you will find more of the world's greatest missing treasures, including the Ark of the Covenant.
5. The Ark of the Covenant
To
the ancient Israelites, the Ark of the Covenant was the most sacred
thing on Earth. The central and paramount object of the Hebrew nation,
this ornate chest was, according to the Bible, designed by God.
Measuring
44 inches long, 26 inches wide, and 26 inches high, the chest was made
of acacia wood, overlaid inside and out with pure gold, and surrounded
by an artistic gold border. Mounted on the solid gold cover were two
golden cherubs, one at each end of the cover facing each other, with
heads bowed and wings extending upward.
The
Ark served as a holy archive for the safekeeping of sacred relics,
including the two stone tablets of the Ten Commandments. As a historical
and religious treasure, the Ark and its contents were absolutely
priceless.
In 607 B.C.,
Jerusalem, the capital city of the Israelite kingdom of Judah and home
of Solomon's Temple, where the Ark was housed, was besieged and
overthrown by the Babylonians. In a terrible slaughter, more than a
million people were killed, with the survivors driven off into
captivity.
Seventy
years later, when the Israelites returned to rebuild the city, the Ark
of the Covenant was gone. What happened to this priceless relic has been
the subject of intense speculation ever since.
It
is widely believed that the Ark was hidden by the Hebrews to keep it
from the Babylonians. Possible locations for its hiding place range from
Mount Nebo in Egypt to Ethiopia to a cave in the heart of Judah. Yet,
if the Ark was hidden, why was it not recovered when the Israelites
returned to Jerusalem and rebuilt the temple?
Others
believe that the Ark was destroyed by the rampaging Babylonians. Still
another explanation put forth by the faithful is that God miraculously
removed the Ark for safekeeping by means of divine intervention.
6. Montezuma's Treasure
The
Spanish decimation of the Aztec empire in Mexico came to a head on July
1, 1520. After mortally wounding Emperor Montezuma, Hernando Cortés and
his men were besieged by enraged Aztec warriors in the capital city of
Tenochtitlán.
After
days of fierce fighting, Cortés ordered his men to pack up the vast
treasures of Montezuma in preparation for a night flight, but they
didn't get far before the Aztecs fell upon them. The ensuing carnage
filled Lake Tezcuco with Spanish bodies and the stolen treasures of
Montezuma.
The
terrified army had thrown the booty away in a vain attempt to escape
with their lives. The hoard consisted of countless gold and silver
ornaments, along with a huge array of jewels.
Cortés
and a handful of his men got away with their lives and returned a year
later to exact their revenge. When the inhabitants of Tenochtitlán got
wind of the approaching invaders, they buried the remains of the city's
treasure in and around Lake Tezcuco to prevent it from falling prey to
the gold-crazed Spanish.
Today,
a vast treasure trove remains hidden beneath nearly five centuries of
mud and sludge on the outskirts of Mexico City, the modern day
incarnation of Tenochtitlán. Generations of treasure seekers have sought
the lost hoard without success. A former president of Mexico even had
the lake bed dredged, but no treasure was found.
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS:
Helen
Davies, Marjorie Dorfman, Mary Fons, Deborah Hawkins, Martin Hintz,
Linnea Lundgren, David Priess, Julia Clark Robinson, Paul Seaburn, Heidi
Stevens, and Steve Theunissen
